AAP

Australia is considering selling uranium to Ukraine, home to the world's worst nuclear disaster.

A fire at a margarine factory in Western Australia's south has caused an estimated $1 million worth of damage.

Energy company Santos plans to slash its capital expenditure by 25 per cent as the oil price slides to fresh five-year lows.

Manufacturers are gaining a new lease of life from rising building activity and a sustained depreciation in the Australian dollar.

The unemployment rate has hit a 12-year high, despite a strong rise in the number of people with jobs, while Western Australia continues to have the lowest unemployment of any state.

The Australian stock market has taken another dive after oil prices dropped to fresh five-year lows.

US stocks have tumbled more than 1.5 per cent as a pullback in petroleum stocks sparked a sell-off in the broader market.

The Australian dollar has slipped back below 83 US cents as oil prices come under further pressure after OPEC cut its 2015 demand forecast.

Oil prices have sunk to new five-year lows with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude nearly hitting $US60 a barrel, 40 per cent down from just six months ago.

Gold prices have retreated from a six-week high, as some traders take profits on the recent rally and others adjust their expectations for the timing of interest-rate increases in the US.

The state opposition claims the MAX Light Rail project is doomed, after a Parliamentary Estimates hearing was today told the government was considering constructing an underground rail line to service the same transport corridor.

A slump in consumer sentiment and fears commodity prices will continue to tumble have driven the Australian share market lower.

Movie companies may soon be able to get court orders requiring Australian internet providers to block foreign illegal download websites.

China's consumer inflation fell to a five-year low of 1.4 per cent in November, the government says, amid concerns over the risk of deflation in the world's second-largest economy.

The number of new home loans in October has bounced back after two months of falls.

Australian consumers are the gloomiest they have been in three years.

Vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys Group has made a strong start to trade on the share market.

The Australian sharemarket has continued its slide following fresh concerns about political instability in Greece.

Wall Street stocks have shaken off much of the negative momentum from Asian and European equity markets, finishing the day mixed after a bruising open.

The Australian dollar is firmer as profit takers sell the greenback.

Global oil prices have rallied modestly from five-year lows after a US agency trimmed its forecast for 2015 US output because of drilling-budget cutbacks.

Gold futures have surged to their highest level in more than six weeks as losses in US stocks and the greenback stir up investor appetite for haven assets.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the government will ditch plans for the $7 Medicare co-payment and instead pursue an optional co-payment, to be introduced at the same time the Medicare rebate to GPs is reduced by $5.

Shares in energy company Santos have shed more than a third of their value in less than three weeks after further falls in oil prices and a credit rating downgrade.

Treasurer Joe Hockey insists the mood inside federal cabinet is good despite a difficult year for the government.

National Australia Bank has become the second of the big four to reverse its interest rate forecasts, predicting the Reserve Bank will need to slash rates twice in 2015.

Further changes will be made to the way official employment statistics are compiled following an independent review of the process, but not this month.

Australian tax officials have been embedded in the offices of 10 multinationals as the federal government tries to capture as much as $3 billion in dodged revenue each year.

An academic who's doing a thesis on the politics of shark attacks has compared Western Australia's policy to the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws.

Further rate cuts from the Reserve Bank could create more concern for consumers, ANZ's chief economist says.

Business confidence and conditions have taken a tumble, as the lower Australian dollar fails to stoke an upturn.

The Australian share market is lower, pulled back by the big miners and oil stocks.